New Delhi, Nov. 16: The government is hopeful of surpassing the direct tax target of Rs 95,714 crore this fiscal. Direct tax collections grew 18.62 per cent to Rs 38,758.61 crore in April-October this year from Rs 32,674 crore in the year-ago period. Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman P. L. Singh said the National Tax Tribunal ensuring that disputes are resolved within six months will be in place shortly.

Chennai, Nov. 16: The World Bank, which started its back-office operations in Chennai two years ago, is planning to expand it shortly, vice-president and controller of the bank, Fayezul Choudhry, said. The bank planned to shift complex processes like monthly valuation of derivatives to Chennai.

Mumbai, Nov. 16: The Reserve Bank of India has permitted foreign entities to set up a project office in the country subject to certain conditions, including securing a contract from a domestic company to execute the project, which is funded by remittances from abroad. The new instructions come into force with immediate effect, the bank added.

New Delhi, Nov. 16: The department of company affairs will finalise the particulars of the National Company Law Tribunal by December and plans to introduce a system of online filing of financial results by early 2005.

New Delhi, Nov. 16: Reviving plans to launch Laurin & Klement (L&K), Volkswagen group company Skoda Auto India today said it would launch the model in March next year, while Fabia would follow suit by 2004-end. L&K will be priced around Rs 13.5-13.9 lakh.